Viktor Korchnoi
Number of games in database: 4,416
Years covered: 1945 to 2015
Last FIDE rating: 2499
Highest rating achieved in database: 2695Overall record: +1690 -677 =1731 (62.4%)*
* Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games
Based on games in the database; may be incomplete.
318 exhibition games, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

Korchnoi defected from the USSR in 1976, and two years later he finally managed to win the Candidates and qualify for the Karpov - Korchnoi World Championship Match (1978). Trailing late with just two victories to Karpov's five, Korchnoi staged a comeback, winning three games to level the score at 5-5. However, Karpov then won the final game, thereby taking the match and retaining the crown. Korchnoi qualified again for the Karpov - Korchnoi World Championship Rematch (1981), but was beaten 6-2. In the next Candidates cycle he was beaten by the rising young Soviet star Garry Kasparov. He continued to play at a very high level throughout the 1980s and 1990s, though he never contended for the world title again. He did, however, capture the 2006 World Seniors' Championship, scoring nine points out of eleven games. Though never World Champion himself, Korchnoi defeated nine players who at some time held the title: Petrosian, Spassky, Karpov, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, Robert James Fischer, Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen.

After defecting, Korchnoi settled in Switzerland, which he represented at Olympiads and other international events. He was ranked in the top 100 on the FIDE world rating list as late as January 2007 (aged 75), the oldest player ever so ranked.

Korchnoi suffered a stroke in December 2012, but returned to competitive chess beginning in 2014. He died in Wohlen, Switzerland on June 6, 2016, aged 85.

percyblakeney: Blackburne won against Chessmetrics #5 and drew #1 and #4 in his 73rd year, in S:t Petersburg 1914. He was ranked #21 in the world by Chessmetrics when he was 74 years old, but it's hard to compare 1910s and 2010s.

Caissanist: <alexmagnus> Thanks, I agree with your approach of using FIDE rankings. Just for grins, I downloaded the January 1985 FIDE list and opened it in Excel, it shows Reshevsky as tied for 126th.

A few months ago, in cg. user were discussing, whether Korchnoi will / should play in a separate senior event...or even it would be time for him to roll up the board.

He got some serious health problems during the Swiss Championship last summer and doctors advised him not to go to the Olympiad as the trip can damage his health even stronger. Although nominated for the Swiss team, he missed the Olympiad 2010 for medical reasons and subsequently could not celebrate his fifty-year jubilee (first participation in the Soviet team 1960 at Leipzig). He therefore faced practically no strong opponents last year.

What a great come-back today! Once again, Korchnoi is a man who always bounce back.

crazybird: <“Sometimes I felt I had to stop,” Korchnoi admits. “They say: ‘You have done so much in this life. You can relax.’ Then I play a game, and I lose to somebody. And I look at him. I look at who he is, as a chess player. And I look at who he is, in general. And when I do this, I know why I will never stop.”>

whiteshark: <talisman: <does anyone have more games than Victor in the database?>> No, Sir! Check ChessGames.com Statistics Page by scrolling down a bit to <What players have the most games in the database?> :D

Korchnoi's range is enormous: Great master of counter-attacking and double-edged positions; with a unique willingness to enter non-stereotyped, unbalanced positions, always creating chaos, fighting and struggling. You can feel his immortal love for chess.

His hunger for the battle is unstoppable.

He knows, 'how to Overcome Adversity', maybe the most important thing in life.

Landman: Korchnoi's 4,300+ game total is indeed enormous - almost 1,000 games more than #2 Karpov. Some of the younger players may have a chance to catch him but not for decades. For example, by continuing his career pace, Anand could reach this total in 2032 at age 63. Carlsen has played many more recorded games at a young age. He could match Korchnoi around 2036 at age 45.

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